Sunday, April 25, 2010

She believes there’s
an opening, an
aperture in the
evening shadows
where everything happens.
She says there’s
no word for it
but I know there is
and that word is
tenebre.
Not quite a place,
not quite a thing,
not a time or a state,
it’s none of these, yet all.
It’s the hinge between
day and night,
the safe place
you’ve searched for,
the eye of the storm.
It’s a chance to
catch your breath
and hide from the
screaming, clawing
day and the
novocaine night.
Don’t look at it,
try to look at
the space between
what you know and
what you don’t.
I know it’s there—
I can’t be the only one
who hears the voices
telling me to hurry,
who feels a veiled force
pushing my pen, my brush,
the paint, my mind,
carrying me along
on unseen rapids.
There must be others
who feel this
drive, this swell
from the middle.
You must be out there—
let me hear from you,
you who work this
foundry with me,
you who hear
the instructions to
give shape and form
to these sacred shadows
and follow them as I do.
We are building
a link through our
exquisite twilight, a link
between here and there.
We are learning
to tie knots,
to join planks,
to cut stone. We are
fighting for two worlds,
stretching them toward
the deepest part,
the heart of it all.
And to those of you
who only see your
flat world, resist the
Nightshade, the Belladonna,
and don’t despair;
we are working hard
here in this place
where it’s always bedtime.
Soon, we will all travel
through impossibility
and still remain alive.

I'm walking through an urban area full of art galleries, on a tour with others. We enter a gallery that shows the work of an artist who makes pieces to hang like curtains or go on really large walls (or are somehow embedded into walls). Some are made from natural elements, like leaves, seed pods and dandelion fluff. I walk outside, away from the group and the artist is there. We speak for a moment; he is nice. But something bad happens...I recall seeing a volcano, in an image that looks like it is on television.
Now I am still near the galleries, but the area is flooded and I am with a few others in a boat, or rather a big ship. Only a few tall buildings stick up. The sky is grey and stormy. The ship we are on is listing and eventually tips over on its side. We scramble to get out and into a nearby building. There is a medical unit there, an ER, and people are being brought in. I am an EMT trying to care for some of these people.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

...a fantastic remix of the heartbreaking "Shoegazer Disco" by Morel, from his most recent release The Death Of The Paperboy. Listen to his monologue...really understand his words...and try not to cry.

I've loved Rich Morel's music for nearly a decade now, ever since I heard his awesome dance track "Funny Car" on a cable music station. His literary music is a thrilling fusion of dance and rock tinged with a bittersweet melancholy and an introspection which strikes my heart just right. His sensibility resonates with me. He is a storyteller, lovingly chronicling the lives, loves and losses of those on the fringe, those who don't fit in, those who are marginalized... and himself. His stories carry an import similar to the writing of Edmund White.

I have been hesitating to post this because McQueen's death is still upsetting to me for so many reasons. Although a suicide is always something to be mourned, McQueen was only 40 years old--certainly not at his peak. I mourn the loss of a creative soul, someone with a powerful and singular vision, who produced provocative performance art and exquisite beauty. His creations were far more than clothing; they were sculpture.
In a world like this one, we cannot afford to lose such monumental creativity.

This is his last collection. The themes include death, angels, wings and feathers...beautiful, chilling, and eerily fitting. Notice the gilded feather coat with the shawl collar, the skull caps with gilded feather coxcombs, the wings on the back of the second dress, and the angelic caryatids on the heels of the shoes.

On August 16, 1960, then-Captain Joseph Kittinger made his third and final extreme altitude jump as part of the U.S. Air Force's Excelsior project. An open gondola attached to large helium balloons carried Captain Kittinger to 102,800 feet, or 19.5 miles, where he simply stepped off. His resulting freefall set several records that have yet to be broken: highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (four minutes--a drogue is a parachute meant to be deployed from a rapidly moving object), and fastest speed by a human being through the atmosphere (614 mph).

Thursday, April 15, 2010

When I hear this song, I swear I experience a classic Maslowian "peak experience." The sound is euphoric, joyous, sparkling. I want to laugh and cry at the same time. I want to raise my arms up and fly. It is the sound of something wonderful, the sound of ecstasy.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

When I was youngI learned to flap my armslike a blind baby sparrowor a Da Vinci contraptionand thus raise myselfoff the ground.

When I was olderthe air changedto something thicklike syrupand I movedas though under water,giving a push with my feet,propelling myself forwardwith a butterfly stroke...

I never flew higherthan the telephone linesor two to three stories,whichever came first,until I had an uncontrollableproblem with gravity.I found myself plasteredagainst the ceiling,being drawn up --I struggled to pull myselfout the door andI soared straight upas the sun set.Through the cloudsI saw the lights of the citysputter and glow.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Jean Shinoda Bolen, Jungian analyst, psychiatrist, and internationally known speaker and author wrote this, her first book, in 1979 but nothing in it makes it dated. The topic is ageless. It’s been many years since I first read this book; the information may have been new and thrilling for me long ago, but I can say that now, the information is validating and comforting, supporting my world view. Reading about the Jungian concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious makes me feel refreshed and re-connected to ideas which I still feel strongly in my heart. And Shinoda Bolen’s premise that these ideas based on Jung’s life work can be compared to the idea of the Tao in Eastern religions, to the idea of universality, to the idea that all is connected, strikes a deep chord in me. It feels true and beautiful. As she says in the book’s final chapter, “In considering how all of the many parables, metaphors, spiritual teachings, and psychological insights noted in this book might fit together, I have the following impressionistic, subjective conception. It seems to me that the Christian vision of the Kingdom of God, the Eastern vision of the Tao, Jung’s idea of the Self and synchronicity, the right hemisphere’s intuitive way of perceiving totality and containing opposites, the parapsychological evidence for consciousness separate from brain or body, and the new reality as seen by quantum physics are all part of the same ineffable, invisible, meaning-giving 'something'.”

Recommend? Yes, with the following caveat: to anyone contemplating reading this lovely, slim volume, I would say first make sure you are familiar with the work of Jung and have a basic understanding of the ideas of archetypes and the collective unconscious. THE TAO OF PSYCHOLOGY is like a riff on these ideas…variations on a theme, if you will. One must be familiar with the original for it to really make sense.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

I am dreaming of visting the geothermal baths at the new Tamina Therme, located at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland. Created by Zurich-based architecture firm Smolenicky and Partners, the interior was conceived of as a "forest" with a "glade" of gently curved columns acting as trees, surrounding the pool and treatment areas. The clean white result is both organic and otherworldly.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

We have lost more creativity. The great impresario, stylist, artist, and fearless provocateur Malcolm McLaren died today in Switzerland after a lengthy battle with mesothelioma. He was 64.

He and Vivienne Westwood single-handedly changed the course of world pop culture forever. Read his fascinating biography here.
Despite the fact that he invented the snarling, ferocious musical genre known as "punk rock," and despite the fact that he surrounded himself with the likes of Johnny "Rotten" and Sid "Vicious," for me, Malcolm seemed like a delighted little boy, full of a kind of naiveté, almost giddily happy, and ready to make a fool out of himself at any moment. His musical career is peppered with lyrics and performances from him that could be considered "corny," but which I find totally endearing and mesmerizing for the fact that he appeared fearless and without any self-consciousness; he simply flung himself into whatever it was he dreamt up and I admire that. McLaren was a "conceptual collage artist" who threw cultures, fashion, lifestyles, art, and music together and found joy and artful expression in both the similarities and the differences of all the elements in the mix. A good example is his debut release, Duck Rock which treated all "folk music" as one, whether it was African music from Soweto, square dancing music from the Appalachians, hip-hop music form Brooklyn, or voudoun drumming from Haiti.
Take a moment to honor McLaren with two of his videos. In this first video for "Madame Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)," his glorious version of the classic aria "Un bel di..." from the opera Madama Butterfly by Puccini, melancholy models languish in a steamy, beautiful hammam. This track is from McLaren's 1984 conceptual release Fans, a collection of interpretations of classic operas.

And this video, "Paris Paris," is from his release Paris, a wistful and deeply passionate love letter to the City of Light. It features the elegantly beautiful Catherine Deneuve and has a distinct North African flavor, to reflect the North African immigrant influence on Parisian culture.

Julius is a clothing line started in 2001 by Japanese artist and designer Tatsuro Horikawa as an art project. Known for combining art and fashion, the line grew from its original purpose of providing audio and visuals for fashion and art shows into a fashion line itself.

Horikawa's marvelous, leather-wrapped F/W '10-'11 collection seems to be inspired by tooled leather horse bridles, bits, reins and harnesses. The models even have "manes" flowing down over their eyes. And the array of boots (and wader-like boots) is fantastic! I covet the boots in the third and fourth images down.

Before Fever Ray (see this prior post), Karin Dreijer Andersson and her brother Olof Andersson made incredible electronic music, like this, under the name The Knife.

We came down from the northBlue hands and a torchRed wine and food for freeA possibilityWe share our mothers' healthIt is what we've been dealtWhat's in it for meFine, then I'll agreeTrees there will beApples, fruits maybeYou know what I fearThe end is always nearTrees there will beApples, fruits maybeYou know what I fearThe end is always nearSay you like itSay you need itWhen you don'tLooking betterShining brighterThan you doSay you like itSay you need itWhen you don'tLooking betterShining brighterThan you doSay you like it (Trees there will be)Say you need it (Apples, fruits maybe)When you don't (You know what I fear, the end is always near)Looking better (Trees there will be)Shining brighter (Apples, fruits maybe)Than you do (You know what I fear, the end is always near)Say you like it (We came down from the north)Say you need it (Blue hands and a torch)When you don't (Red wine and food for free, a possibility)Looking better (We share our mothers' health)Shining brighter (It is what we've been dealt)Than you do (What's in it for me, fine, then I'll agree)

The photography of Erwin Olaf. These images of people totally disconnected from their mid-century surroundings are from his "Grief" series. I love the "film-still" feel and the hyper-reality of the disturbingly clear lighting, like a Kubrick film.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

The identity of iamamiwhoami remains a mystery (see my previous post). But this video, titled "b" (is that the name of the song?) gives us a better look at the singer. It seems obvious that it is Jonna Lee.
Hurry up with that CD release, Jonna. It sounds wonderful, like a glorious cross between Sigur Ros, M83 and Fever Ray!
And the visuals here are marvelous. I love the artifice of the set... all that pine, referencing the blond wood of Nordic design, but without any details to distract; the odd filtered Nordic light; and the non-sequitur of being wrapped in packing tape, being watched by sleepy, silver-y men (aliens from another planet?).

After decades of short films--including the masterpiece "Street of Crocodiles" based on a novel by the Polish artist and author Bruno Schulz--and two feature films under their belts ("Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life" and "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes"), the Quays are proposing another feature film, this time an adaptation of "Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass," the only other extant Bruno Schulz novel. Let's hope that this project gets funded and filmed. The Quay Brothers possess a unique, singular vision that deserves to be seen.

About Me

About "Oh, By The Way"

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.

Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft) and I will be happy to provide a link.

I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain me. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.

All-time Favorite Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)

After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)

Amelie

American Beauty (Alan Ball)

Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)

Belle et Bete (Cocteau)

Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)

Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)

Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)

Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)

Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)

Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)

Easy Rider

Edward II (Derek Jarman)

Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)

Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)

Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)

Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)

Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)

Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)